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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27997809">but when the day is over (i hope you love me back)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lineal/pseuds/Lineal'>Lineal</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>poem fics! [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Based on a Poem, Ficlet, Happy Ending, Introspection, Love, M/M, Pining, married in everything but name, pls theyre so in love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:00:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>692</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27997809</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lineal/pseuds/Lineal</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>i’m not sure where i’m going<br/>i’m not sure where i’ll be<br/>but i don’t think<br/>i’ll get over you, y’see<br/>because i had so much to give<br/>but i could never say<br/>discomfort, disappointment,<br/>disaffection<br/>those things held me at bay<br/>the truth is i won’t know<br/>how you’d ever react<br/>but when the day is over<br/>i hope you love me back</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>poem fics! [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050644</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>but when the day is over (i hope you love me back)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephbethallen/gifts">stephbethallen</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Inspired by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephbethallen">stephbethallen's</a> amazing poem!!!</p><p>She's so amazing :D a literal goddess</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Deep breaths. Slow blinks. One foot in front of the other. Then the other. And the other.</p><p> </p><p>The walk home from school is always the same as usual, bathed in the soft light of the setting sun and quiet chatter between them. Every step, every turn— it’s always been the same, unchanging, familiar.</p><p> </p><p>Yet Tooru can never tell where he’s going anymore. Every step goes down a foreign path, every turn to an unfamiliar place.</p><p> </p><p>A part of him knows that it’s just another walk home with Hajime. The other part of him screams at him, cries that he doesn’t know where he’ll be, where he’ll end up if he keeps going on like this.</p><p> </p><p>And <em>this </em>... well… it’s love, isn’t it? </p><p> </p><p>Tooru’s love for Hajime, feelings that go beyond platonic and even transcend romantic— feelings that are for them, and for them only. Partners.</p><p> </p><p>And he’ll never be able to give that up, settle for something less, lose Hajime even though Tooru’s not doing anything to keep him either.</p><p> </p><p>It would be so easy to just tell Hajime now. A simple slip of his tongue in another casual conversation, a simple “I love you” or “please don’t leave me.”</p><p> </p><p>It would be so easy to hold Hajime’s hand right here, lean close, keep him closer. He’s right there, less than a foot away, shoulders sometimes brushing against Tooru’s as they walk side by side down the roads that mark their childhoods, yet seem so new and unknown at the same time— like the next pages of their story, still left unread, unseen.</p><p> </p><p>Hajime gives Tooru a light tap on the shoulder— <em>are you okay? </em>— to which he responds to with a cheery smile— <em>yeah, of course, Iwa-chan!</em>— and they leave it like that, filled with the sour taste of lies and lingering glances.</p><p> </p><p>If only it would be this easy to actually talk about how he feels. All the discomfort, disappointment, disaffection— everything that Tooru fears, everything keeping him back from this very task.</p><p> </p><p>So he keeps quiet, just like always, and the sun slips beneath the horizon, overtaken by the darkness of night and twinkling of stars up above.</p><p> </p><p>Tooru keeps quiet, chooses to cherish this moment instead, one out of thousands— one almost identical to the next. The little moments that stir up a sort of warmth in his chest, that add up to something bigger, fonder, better. Built atop of a mountain of layers and masks and Hajime’s piercing gaze that somehow manages to see through it all every time.</p><p> </p><p>Tooru keeps those moments to himself, holds them dear even if they’re just another lunch break spent stealing each other’s food, another boring walk home or late night practice or cliché movie marathon, another scolding, another hug that stretches out for too long, an impromptu sleepover because he “can’t take care of himself properly otherwise.”</p><p> </p><p>And he’s okay with that. If he just keeps adding the ones and twos together, slowly but surely, he’ll get a large sum out of it. The zero that would come with the rejection, though— multiplying it with his happiness would only result in another cold, empty zero.</p><p> </p><p>He keeps quiet, even as they split ways for the day, Hajime stopping at his front door, just one down from Tooru’s, offering for him to stay for dinner— <em>stay with me</em>.</p><p> </p><p>Tooru declines and watches in silence as the door slams shut behind him.</p><p> </p><p>Seconds pass.</p><p> </p><p>Deep breaths.</p><p> </p><p>Slow blinks.</p><p> </p><p>He might never know how Hajime would react but when the day is over… </p><p> </p><p>“I hope you love me back.”</p><p> </p><p>The wind howls— his only reply, just like always— and Tooru turns and walks away, one foot in front of the other. Then the other. And the other.</p><p> </p><p>Tomorrow will just be another day. Another memory. Another page of their story.</p><p> </p><p>(Another chance missed)</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>He gets a text message later. It’s only two words, from Hajime, lacking any of the annoyance or anger that his messages usually contain.</p><p> </p><p>Tooru reads it once. Then twice. Then a hundred more times.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>He leaves him on read.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><b>Hajime:</b> i do</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The wind howls outside, laughing, his reply.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hajime: i do<br/>//theyre married, your honor</p><p>Thanks for reading!!!</p><p>This is gonna be a series that'll update about once a week unless I say otherwise! To help me get back into my writing groove because Nanowrimo has killed me :)</p><p>Thanks to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephbethallen">stephbethallen</a> again for the inspiration!!!<br/>(i can and will link it everytime, go check her fics out too!!)</p><p> </p><p>Here is my <a href="https://discord.gg/E8rnymG">Discord</a> and my <a href="https://itslinsanity.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a>!!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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